Design, development and application of a miniaturised 3D-printed passive sampler device for monitoring chemical contaminants

Join us to learn more about the passive sampler device for monitoring chemical contaminants.

🔍 What you’ll learn in this new webinar:

The design, development and subsequent application of a novel, 3D-printed miniaturised passive sampling device (3D-PSD) for the measurement of chemical contaminants is presented herein.

The miniaturised 3D-PSD has the capacity to hold five 9 mm passive sampler sorbents and consisted of three core parts which connect via an interference fit. The sampling rates (Rs) of three different sorbents (HLB (divinylbenzene-co-N-vinylpyrrolidone), anion exchange, and cation exchange, Affinisep AttractSPE® disks) were assessed in the laboratory over ten days at low exposure concentrations (50 and 100 ng/L) in artificial freshwater (AFW). The sampling rates ranged from 0.3 to 12.3 mL/day, 0.3 to 18.8 mL/day, and 2.0 to 81.0 mL/day for HLB, anion and cation sorbents, respectively.

The 3D-PSDs were subsequently deployed in an urban freshwater UK river in 2021 downstream of a pollution source. Monthly, ten 3D-PSDs (n = 3 per sorbent phase and n = 1 multiplexed with all three sorbents) were deployed for seven days with co-occurring water and G. pluex collections during deployment and retrieval to assess trends between the two matrices with the view to move towards the prediction of G. pulex concentrations from the 3D-PSD data.

Other applications of the 3D-PSD include large-scale catchment monitoring via citizen science, PFAS monitoring in freshwaters, chemical contaminant monitoring in marine environments, and in soil.

Animated by:

• Dr. Michel AROTCARENA, Sales Support Director, Affinisep
• Dr. Arnaud PHILIPPART, Technical Sales Representative, Affinisep

Guest speaker: Dr Alexandra Richardson, Research Associate, Imperial College London

Biography: Alexandra (Alex) Richardson is a driven researcher working as a Research Associate within the Epidemiology and Biostatistics (EBS) and Emerging Chemical Contaminants (ECC) groups at Imperial College London. Her journey began with a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Biology and Marine Biology from the University of Sydney, Australia. Following this, she moved to the United Kingdom to complete a Master of Research in Forensic Science with a focus on analytical chemistry at King’s College London. With the original plan of getting the degree and going back to Australia, Alex found herself captivated by the opportunities in the UK, where she has thrived for nearly a decade.

Her professional experience spans both industry and academia, having worked for various companies including Agilent Technologies UK Ltd. (Church Stretton), GSK plc (Ulverston), and Aptuit, an Evotec company (Oxford). However, her passion for research brought her back to academia, where she pursued a BBSRC iCASE studentship PhD at King’s College London, funded by the London Interdisciplinary Biosciences Consortium (LiDo) partnered with Agilent Technologies UK Ltd. Her doctoral studies focused on the development of a novel 3D-printed miniaturised passive sampler device to act as a surrogate for invertebrates during micropollutant bioconcentrating testing.

Now in a post-doctoral role, her projects have focused on investigating the occurrence of per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) in London's drinking water through participatory science. Developing novel methods for monitoring PFAS in surface waters using passive sampling, and developing LC-MS/MS methods for the detection and quantification of plastic chemicals in human blood, among other hobby research projects. Outside research, Alex has a diverse range of interests. When not in the laboratory, you can find her on the hockey pitch, or indulging her creative side by painting small models for board games, among other eclectic hobbies she has acquired over the years.

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